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Quincy Harker (Earth-616)
| Citizenship = British | MaritalStatus = Widowed | Occupation = Vampire hunter | Education = | Origin = Human | PlaceOfBirth = London, England | Creators = Bram Stoker; Marv Wolfman; Gene Colan | First = Tomb of Dracula #7 | Death = | HistoryText = Quincy Harker was the son of Jonathan and Mina Harker, who played major roles, in the conflict between the vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing and Dracula that was chronicled in Bram Stoker's celebrated book Dracula. Jonathan and Mina were married, after van Helsing put a temporary end to Dracula's existence, and the Harkers named their son Quincy after their American friend who had helped in defeating Dracula. Quincy was born at Harker Estate in London, a mansion that his father Jonathan had built, and Quincy was to live there rest of his life. As an adolescent Quincy Harker studied vampire lore under the direction of Abraham van Helsing. However, Harker did not intend to become a vampire hunter himself. But Dracula, who was repeatedly resurrected and being destroyed, sought vengeance on Jonathan Harker for his role in his defeat. The first encounter between Quincy Harker and Dracula has not yet been recorded, but it is known that Harker began his war with Dracula once the former was past the age of sixteen. Quincy Harker became Abraham van Helsing's successor as Dracula's greatest and most implacable foe. Harker created an organization of agents who helped him drive Dracula from London, Dracula traveled across the world in search of victims, but Harker sent his agents in pursuit of him. Harker financed his operations through successful investments. He and his men destroyed a considerable number of vampires. Harker eventually married a woman named Elizabeth. Furious at constantly being hunted by Harker's agents, Dracula finally confronted Harker while he and Elizabeth were attending an opera performance at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, London. When Harker wielded a cross to ward off Dracula, the latter attacked Elizabeth. Harker tried to kill Dracula to save his wife, but Dracula seized him and threw him from his balcony seat onto the stage, permanently crippling his legs . (Another account, alleging that Harker was crippled in an encounter with a group of vampires and that Harker did not recruit agents until after he was crippled, is incorrect.) Eventually, due to repeated attacks by vampires during his life, Harker's eyes would become so highly sensitive to light that he would require smoke-colored glasses to shield them. Dracula abducted Elizabeth, who was found two days later, her body half drained of blood. It took four months of continual blood transfusions to restore Elizabeth to good physical health. Afterwards, Elizabeth bore Quincy a daughter, Edith. However, Elizabeth never fully recovered psychologically from the traumatic effects of being attacked by Dracula. When Edith was four years old, Elizabeth woke from a nightmare about Dracula, ran into the kitchen before Quincy could stop her, and killed herself with a silver-edged butcher's knife . Since, as a cripple, Harker was limited in his ability to hunt vampires personally, he came to rely more fully on his agents, and turned in earnest to what became his trademark: the devising of cunning and unusual weapons with which he and his agents could entrap and destroy vampires. Harker even turned his wheelchair into a mobile anti-vampire arsenal and filled his house with concealed death traps for any vampire who chose to attack him there. When Abraham von Helsing's granddaughter Rachel was still a child, the vengeful Dracula slew her parents before her eyes. Beore Dracula could kill the child as well, Quincy arrived and managed to chase off the vampire. Harker thereafter took young Rachel under his protection . On Rachel's sixteenth birthday Harker held a party for her. After it was over, Dracula hypnotized Rachel and was about to attack her when Harker came in and fired poisoned wooden darts at him from his wheelchair, causing Dracula to flee. Rachel van Helsing eventually became Harker's principal agent in his band of vampire hunters. In recent years, for unknown reasons, Harker's organization apparently dwindled considerably in numbers. In his final years he relied on only a small number of operatives: Rachel van Helsing, Taj Nital, and Dracula's own descendant, Frank Drake. In addition, Harker and his associates formed alliances with the vampire hunter Blade, the detective Hannibal King, who was then himself a vampire, and Inspector George Chelm of Scotland Yard. Dracula captured Edith Harker and demanded that Quincy Harker and his associates come to an old mansion where he was holding her captive. After Harker's group arrived, Blade drove Dracula off, and Harker discovered that Dracula had caused Edith to become a vampire herself. Edith desperately tried to keep herself from giving in to her new animalistic bloodlust, but was losing the struggle. Harker was forced to destroy her using the wooden stake attached to the handle of his cane. The grieving Harker had her body cremated to ensure that she could not be resurrected to continue her vampiric existence. After numerous further encounters with Dracula, Harker confronted him at Castle Dracula itself in Transylvania. Harker had recently suffered a heart attack and knew that he would die within a year. In this final meeting with Dracula, Harker activated a time bomb concealed within his wheelchair that was set to go off in thirty seconds. Then Harker rose from his wheelchair despite the intense pain in his legs, wielding a silver stake. It is not clear whether Harker fell against Dracula or leapt upon him. Nevertheless. he succeeded in plunging the silver stake into Dracula's heart, killing him. Harker was about to sever Dracula's head to ensure that he could not be resurrected again when the explosives went off, killing Harker and demolishing the castle. Ironically. despite Harker's great heroism in this confrontation Dracula was again resurrected and took his vengeance on Rachel van Helsing. But Harker's associates Frank, Drake, Blade, and Hannibal King aided the sorcerer Dr. Stephen Strange when he finally fulfilled Harker's dream of destroying Dracula and all other vampires on Earth except for King himself, who was cured of vampirism. | Powers = | Abilities = Quincy Harker and Rachel van Helsing, his protege, were the world's leading authorities on vampirism. Harker was a cunning strategist in vampire hunting, and he was unsurpassed as an inventor of weaponry to be used against vampires. | Strength = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = Quincy Harker devised an array of anti-vampire weaponry too various to be listed here fully. His wheelchair was equipped for firing wooden darts coated with poison. A vampire could be caused pain by wood penetrating his skin, and could be killed if wood impaled his heart. Even if the darts missed the vampire's heart, the poison could weaken the vampire as it penetrated his bloodstream. Harker's wheelchair even contained radar equipment to guide the dart firing mechanisms. Among Harker s other weapons was a tube that fired a net attached to weights filled with garlic (to which vampires have a strong aversion) for entrapping vampires who had assumed the form of bats. The garlic was intended to prevent the vampires from transforming into mist to escape the net. In his later years, Quincy Harker kept a loyal German shepherd named Saint, who would attack even a vampire upon Harker's command. Saint's leather collar was studded with silver crosses to protect him from vampires. | Notes = | Trivia = * Quincy was named after the American adventurer, Quincy Morris. He was an associate of Quincy's father, Jonathan Harker, as well as aging professor, Abraham van Helsing. Quincy Morris sacrificed his life in an effort to slay Dracula in 1897. * Quincy's wife was once referred to as Sonya, but her true name is Elizabeth. | Links = * Danny Wall's Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe * Quincy Harker article at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. * Quincy Harker article at Memory Beta, the licensed Star Trek Wikia. }} Category:Vampire Hunters Category:English Category:Strategists Category:Inventors Category:Literary Characters